Book 2, Earth: The Episodes Continue
by justanotheravatarfan
Summary: Katara discovers that she has acquired mysterious new powers when Zuko accidentally becomes her first victim. Zula hires a bounty hunter to capture the Avatar and assassinate her brother. ZukoXKatara
1. Agni Kai

Book 2, Earth CHAPTER 1, AGNI KAI 

_**Book Summary:** The Northern Water Tribe has destroyed the Fire Navy fleet as Aang and Katara master Water. Now, they journey towards the Earth kingdom and pick up a few new friends along the way. Zuko+Katara._

**Author's Note: **This is part of a series of episodes that begins from where the last _Avatar_ episode, _The Blue Spirit_ leaves off. You'll probably enjoy this more if you've read all of my previous stories from _The Book of Water _in their proper order. They're listed on my profile page (justanotheravatarfan). Thank you and I apologize for any inconvenience.

_**Chapter Summary: **Spring approaches and love is in the air. Katara and Aang master waterbending and our heroes prepare for a journey to the Earth Kingdom. And Zuko is forced to contend with an unexpected challenger for Katara's affections._

**To my lovely and wonderful reviewers: **My replies are at the end of this chapter. I value your comments, suggestions and critiques immensely and am thrilled that real live humans are actually reading my stories! Or at least, I assume you're all live humans, though it would be rather flattering to also have fans amongst the legions of the undead.

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After a long sleep, Katara awakens, stretches out her arms and yawns. With an automatic motion, she smoothes her hair with the palms of her hands, and then gasps in horror. Instead of her long, soft brunette hair, her hands encounter … razor stubble.

"Eeeew," the girl exclaims in disgust. Then she looks confused and whispers, "Where am I?"

Her eyes scan the room as she takes in her surroundings. She discovers that she is inside of a cozy little dome-shaped tent made from animal hides. Her bed consists of the soft furry skin of a polar bear stretched tautly across wooden stakes driven into the icy floor. The rest of the floor is covered with furry rugs striped in subtle gradations of blue and purple. In the middle of the room, a small fire burns merrily in a pottery stove with a chimney that directs the smoke up through a hole in the roof. Her eyes follow the chimney upwards and squint into the bright sunlight streaming from above. The deep, warm terracotta color of the chimney looks beautiful against the cool, blue color of the sky.

Katara frowns as she gradually recalls her recent adventures.

The decision to disguise her as the Avatar and to conceal Sokka, Zuko and Nilak within a giant ice sculpture of a polar bear to trick Admiral Zhao into bringing them onto his ship. Tupilek, Iroh, and Chief Saghani shaving her head and painting arrows on her scalp, hands and feet. The admiral's brutal assaults upon the Avatar imposter before their escape … and then, Sedna's utterly terrifying destruction of the entire Fire Navy fleet …

"Oh no," Katara whimpers as she buries herself beneath the blankets. "My face!"

Her vanity fills her with self-loathing, as she struggles to remember that she should be grateful that they're safe from the Fire Nation, at least for a little while … Alas, she can't help herself.

Soon, immense thirst and ravenous hunger drive Katara out from beneath the bedcovers. From the corner of her eye, she spies a tall cup of water, along with a dish of yogurt mixed with plump, juicy, garnet-colored lingonberries. Katara gulps down the water and then voraciously gobbles down her food.

As she gratefully places her empty bowl and glass back on the table, her hand suddenly brushes against an object that feels so incredibly warm and soft that she involuntarily gasps with delight.

Startled, she looks towards the table and discovers the simplest, and yet most enchantingly beautiful hat she has ever seen. It is a round cap made from light, supple material with an indescribable color that subtly shimmers between shades of blue, green and purple like waves glimmering in an irridescent sea. The edges are trimmed with a profusion of silky, white ermine fur tipped with blue-ish silver.

The girl tries on the hat, gets out of bed, and glances hopefully towards a small mirror on the other side of the room.

The mirror does not disappoint her. Katara realizes that she must have slept for several days, because the bruises and cuts on her face are barely perceptible. Although she still mourns for her long, shining, brunette tresses of hair, the hat frames her face beautifully and draws attention to her striking blue eyes. Without thinking, she smiles and twirls before the mirror in her nightgown as the fur trim lifts and twirls along with her.

The water girl smiles and thinks of Tupilek, the high water shaman.

"How kind of her," Katara muses to herself, "At least SHE understands how I feel. Boys never understand these things"

Then Katara's brow wrinkles doubtfully. Her mentor is gentle, thoughtful, and often motherly, but the hat seems too preposterously luxurious to have been a gift from her. And how could she have acquired the silky fabric on the isolated North Pole? Despite Katara's extensive traveling, she has never seen a hat remotely like this.

Suddenly, she raises her hands to her head as she discovers a hard, lumpy object pressing disagreeably into her scalp. Katara snatches off her new hat with annoyance, and her mother's necklace tumbles into the palm of her other hand. The necklace that she had hurled down the steely staircase of the Fire Navy's flag ship in order to give herself and her cohorts an opportunity to ambush the guards.

Katara abruptly recalls that only one person had descended the staircase far enough to have possibly retrieved her lost necklace. The same person who had returned her necklace the _last_ time she had lost it.

Her eyes fly open with utter astonishment and she gulps in bewilderment, _"Prince ZUKO?"_

The unlikely image of the warlike, fierce-tempered fire prince sitting cross-legged with a needle and thread and sewing a hat by candlelight flits through Katara's mind and she bursts into peals of laughter.

"Ridiculous!" she cries out, as tears of mirth roll down her cheeks.

Then the water girl remembers something else that had happened yesterday – or was it several days ago? Surely she must have only imagined it in some feverish delirium.

The fire prince grasping her shoulders, and drawing her close, as he gently wipes the blood and tears from her face with the silken band that he had unwound from his hair. Zuko whispering, "No, Katara. You're … you're … not hideous. That's my department," and Katara softly replying, "I don't think you look hideous, Zuko," and gazing into his glowing amber eyes for … how long?

Katara trembles and sits down on the edge of her bed as she experiences the odd, giddy sensation of her body going boneless. She panics and whispers to her self as she raises the back of her hand towards her forehead, "What's wrong with me? Am I sick? I hope someone comes soon so I can ask them."

But her forehead feels cool to the touch, and the girl soon mutters, "Wait … I think I've felt like this once before." Then she abruptly sits upright as a jolt of recognition surges down her spine like electricity

"Jet!" she exclaims out loud, and then softly adds, "Before he betrayed me."

The girl takes a deep breath, and manages to stand up despite the slight wobble in her knees. "Egads," she bursts forth when she finally exhales. "Zuko?"

Then she composes herself and says, "I had better wash up, get dressed and find the others." She reaches for her clothes, which are neatly folded at the foot of the bed. They smell like they've just been laundered and Katara inhales the clean scent and sighs with contentment.

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The girl is dressed and spinning on her toes in front of the mirror to admire her hat as it shimmers in the light cascading from the ceiling and the fur trim lifts and falls softly with her movements. She abruptly stops and emerges from her reverie when she notices a long shadow stretching across the floor.

Someone has opened the flap to her tent. _I hope they haven't been standing there long enough to notice me acting like a total IDIOT, _she thinks as her cheeks turn slightly pink. Suddenly, Katara's eyes grow round and her cheeks blaze crimson as she turns around and sees Prince Zuko standing by the opening to the tent.

"Um … Sorry. It's my turn to check up on you," He explains awkwardly with a slight tremor in his voice, "I … I'll go tell the others that you're awake."

Katara notices that the good side of Zuko's face looks slightly flushed. She smiles with sympathy for his embarrassment and declares, "It's okay. I'll go along with you."

But instead of walking towards the water temple where the others are most likely to be found, they find themselves wandering towards a deserted watchtower along the fortress walls. Katara and Zuko silently ascend the icy staircase towards the top, and are rewarded with a breathtaking view of the sparkling ocean speckled with glistening white melting ice floes beneath the vast blue sky. Even with the longer days that herald the coming of spring, the sun has already begun its descent towards the horizon. Side by side, they lean forwards against the wall and gaze outward with the good side of Zuko's face towards Katara's.

Zuko finally breaks the awkward silence as the corner of his mouth turns up in a rueful half-smile and he surmises, "I suppose that since my plan put all of our lives in peril – not to mention your hair – you'll be taking at LEAST ten points away from me!"

Katara laughs at his reference to their ongoing little game, which had sprung from one of the first of their many heated arguments.

_Zuko sneers, "So, this is how you treat someone who saved your life?" _

"_Hah!" Katara laughs defiantly, "Maybe when you've SAVED our lives as many times as you've THREATENED them, THEN I'll make nicey-nice with you!"_

She looks at him shyly from the corner of her eye, and softly replies, "Forget that. It seems like such a long time ago, Prince Zuko."

Before Katara even realizes what she is doing, she turns towards Zuko and places a tentative hand on his shoulder for balance. She stands on the tips of her toes, and lightly kisses him on the cheek. She then gasps at her own forwardness as her cheeks turn bright pink and she begins to move away.

Then Zuko brusquely commands, "No."

Startled, Katara turns her face up inquiringly towards his, and suddenly finds herself unable to move.

Blazing embers spark from deep within the fire prince's tawny eyes as they pin down the water girl's softly shimmering blue ones. In a fluid movement as swift and powerful as a cat pouncing on its prey, he grips the small of her back with one hand and the nape of her neck with the other, and pulls the water girl towards him. His hand slides along her neck towards her cheek and jaw line, as he sharply tips her face upwards by the chin, and then leans forward and kisses her hard on the mouth.

For a moment, Katara's eyes widen and her body stiffens as she realizes that her arms are trapped between Zuko's. Then she closes her eyes, leans into him, and slowly glides her hands upwards along Zuko's chest and wraps her arms around his neck as she fervently returns his kiss.

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When the fire prince and the water girl finally release each other, the sky blazes orange and red as the sun sinks below the horizon.

"My gosh! What time is it?" Katara exclaims.

"Probably about three in the afternoon, since we only get a few hours of sunlight these days," Zuko responds.

"We should go back before the others wonder where we are," Katara says with a tinge of regret, as they hold hands and begin descending the staircase.

Then she laughs nervously and groans, "My brother will kill me! And … even worse … Your Uncle Iroh will tease us mercilessly!"

Zuko's jaw tightens and he snaps, "Nobody needs to know … after all, what happens between us is none of their business."

Then he adds, as a knowing smirk sneaks across his face, "Besides, you may find that Iroh and Tupilek are too … um … occupied to notice anything."

The exit the watchtower and let go of each other's hands. Katara bursts out laughing as she gapes at Zuko and trills, "What do you MEAN they're _TOO OCCUPIED!"_

"You'll see," Zuko replies with a grin, "Apparently, the fire and water thing is contagious!"

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Sure enough, as Katara and Zuko approach the water temple, they spy Iroh and Tupilek standing by the fortress wall enjoying the glorious sunset. The Dragon of the West's arm is wrapped snugly around the High Water Shaman's waist and her head leans against his broad shoulder as strands of her long, silky black hair catch upon his grizzled salt-and-pepper whiskers.

"Sorry to INTERRUPT you and the honorable High Water Shaman, Uncle," the fire prince calls out teasingly, "But I thought that both of you MAY want to know that Katara has finally woken up!"

Startled, Iroh and Tupilek whirl around and then beam happily when they see Katara standing next to Zuko. They rush towards her and envelop the girl in their embraces. Katara squirms as she struggles for breath, and finally the two elders step back.

"Lovely hat, Katara," Tupilek comments, "It matches your eyes perfectly."

Then, Katara's and Zuko's hearts plummet into their stomachs as Iroh and Tupilek both lean back with arms folded against their chests and each raise a quizzical eyebrow as they observe the young people's slightly flushed and disheveled appearances.

Iroh's eyes twinkle with amusement as he observes, "But nephew, we sent you to check up on the girl over an hour ago."

"Yeah, but she … just woke up," Zuko mutters lamely.

The boy and girl sigh with relief when Iroh merely nods and says, "Sokka and Aang will be glad to see that you're finally well, Katara. Let's go and find them."

As they follow Iroh and Tupilek, Katara whispers, "Thank you for the hat … it's so … so … beautiful. Where did you find it?"

The good side of Zuko's face turns red as he mutters, "I, er, um … I made it."

Katara giggles and looks at him with an expression of disbelief.

Zuko glares at her ferociously and snaps, "Soldiers of the Fire Nation are required to keep their weapons and clothing in good repair, Katara … and I guess that includes sewing."

She grins at Zuko and declares, "I wish you'd tell that to SOKKA." And they both laugh.

They find Sokka, Aang and Momo leaning against Appa's warm, furry body and sharing dinner as Appa contentedly munches on a couple bales of kelp. Or, more accurately, Sokka and Momo are in the process of devouring everything in sight while Aang disconsolately picks at his food.

"Sokka! Aang! Momo! Appa!" Katara cries out.

Four faces suffused with joy turn towards Katara. Aang immediately leaps up and ecstatically runs towards the girl. Appa stays put, as Sokka and Momo finish chewing their mouthfuls of fish and berries before they follow Aang.

The Avatar's face glows and his clear gray eyes look up worshipfully into the girl's face, and then he hugs her. He pipes up in a quavering voice, "I'm so glad you're feeling better, Katara."

Katara returns Aang's embrace, as Momo coos and chirps happily and leaps onto the girls shoulder.

Then, Sokka saunters up and gruffly mumbles, "Well, it wasn't like you were going to DIE or anything."

But his eyes fill with tears as he clutches his sister to his chest and murmurs softly into her hat, "Boy, we all sure kicked some Fire Nation butt, didn't we!"

Then Sokka bows his head respectfully towards the ocean as Katara follows suit, and adds, "Thanks to Sedna, Queen of the Sea, of course." A wave swells, peaks, and then crashes onto the shore far below to acknowledge the compliment.

"And you, too, Zuko," Sokka declares as he extends a hand towards Zuko and beams happily towards him. "I'm sorry for ever doubting you."

The fire prince smiles back and grips the Water Tribe boy's hand and shakes it firmly in a gesture of friendship.

Meanwhile, Aang shoots questioning glance towards Zuko and Katara that nobody else observes, as a barely perceptible dim voice in the back of his mind comments, _something has changed._

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Tupilek stands between Aang and Katara before the heavy, intricately carved, glistening doors of ice that bar them from the inner sanctuary of the Northern Water Temple. The frozen doors are joined together with two elaborate, hollow bas-relief frozen sea serpents whose bodies coil from each door and twine together in the center in a smooth, complicated pattern with openings at each of their tails.

"Children, this is the final test for whether you two have truly mastered the art of Waterbending," the High Water Shaman proclaims. "You must work together to open the doors to the inner sanctuary."

Aang and Katara take deep breaths and then focus on each other as well as their respective doors. They squeeze their eyes shut as they concentrate on collecting moisture from the air, and then glide their hands in a swirling motion to direct streams of water into the tails of the sea serpents guarding the doors. Then, the Avatar and the water girl gasp in awe as the doors creak, groan, and then swing open.

Glistening ice sculptures of past avatars glimmer in the faint blue light and spiral outwards from the center in concentric circles. Suddenly, the eyes of the most recent waterbending incarnation of the avatar glow phosphorescent blue from within the hood of her parka, and the building trembles, as Tupilek cries, "Avatar Adlartok!"

"Yes, Tupilek, High Water Shaman of the Northern Water Tribe," the past avatar declares in a loud, clear voice that echoes against the icy walls of the inner sanctuary, "I am Adlartok. The new Avatar must travel back to the City of Omashu in the Earth Kingdom in order to master earthbending with his old friend, King Bumi. And his other friends shall accompany him, and I DO mean ALL of his friends."

Tupilek suddenly trembles as she falls to her knees, looks up into the glowing eyes of Adlartok, and whispers, "You mean … that _I_ should go, too?"

"Yes," replies the statue of Adlartok. "The new Avatar will need all the help he can get."

She then adds, "Which is also why you must all depart on the evening of the Spring Equinox to ensure that your journey is blessed by Sedna, Queen of the Sea, our ancestors, and others from the Spirit World."

Aang remembers the Winter Solstice and his encounter with Hei Bai, and whispers, "Because that's one of the times when the portal opens between the Human World and the Spirit World … But that's only a few days away!"

But the statue's eyes grow dim, as the three humans raise their bowed heads, leave the inner sanctuary, and close the heavy doors behind them.

Katara gently takes the shaken Tupilek's hands within hers, looks tenderly into her teacher's midnight blue eyes, and murmurs softly, "I know it's hard to leave home. But I'm also glad that you'll come with us."

Then the water girl darts a mischievous glance towards Tupilek and teases, "And I'm sure that Iroh will not object to you as a guest!"

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Katara and Zuko stand on the watchtower and silently gaze towards the sea as a soft breeze ruffles the fur trim of her hat along with his ponytail. Zuko is standing behind the girl with his arms around her waist and rests his chin on the top her head as she leans back against his chest.

Katara reaches into a pouch hanging from her belt and produces a fresh spring roll with plum sauce. She places the spring roll on the wall, cuts it with her knife, turns around and hands half of it to Zuko. They stand side-by-side looking up at the sky and lean forward against the wall as they eat their lunch.

_That's something I like about her,_ Zuko muses to him self as a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, _we can share a spring roll and not say a word._

Meanwhile, Aang, Sokka and Nilak decide to visit the village. "Let's take Momo with us," suggests Sokka with a devilish wink, "He'll make a good conversation piece for the girls!"

Sure enough, as soon as they arrive at the village, they're surrounded by a flock of young ladies who fuss over Momo while casting coy glances towards Aang, Sokka and Nilak from under their eyelashes. Momo enjoys the attention as he preens, chirps, and cooes while batting his enormous eyes at everyone. Sokka and Nilak engage a pair of particularly pretty teenagers in a lively, bantering conversation.

But Aang barely responds to the fetching young lass who is gazing up at him while breathlessly inquiring, "Oooh. Is that your staff?"

The boys' cheeks suddenly flush as sheepish expressions suffuse their faces, when they see Tupilek walking towards them from one direction and Iroh approaching from the other.

"Has anyone seen Katara?" asks Tupilek.

"No, I haven't," responds Iroh, "And I'm looking for Zuko."

Sokka shrugs nonchalantly to disguise how desperately he wants his elders to disappear so he resume his flirtations before the girls get bored and disperse.

But the high water shaman turns towards Sokka and Aang, and excitedly announces, "Since we're leaving tomorrow, Iroh and I are throwing a party! Meet us in our tent at supper time." Then she nods towards Nilak and adds, "And you, too, of course."

Tupilek turns towards Iroh and says, "They're probably up there somewhere."

Sokka and Nilak both sigh with relief as the elders turn around and walk back towards the entrance to the Northern Water Temple, and then continue holding court with the ladies. The older boys do not notice that Aang's face has turned pale and that he has quietly withdrawn from the crowd.

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Iroh and Tupilek preside over the low, round ivory table heaped with delicacies and jugs of lingonberry wine in their tent, as they beam festively upon the faces of their guests. Sokka, Zuko, Katara, and Nilak – who has insisted on accompanying his lieutenant to the Earth Kingdom – smile back as they eagerly anticipate the delicious victuals before them.

But Aang frowns and refuses to meet any one's eyes.

"Surely we deserve a celebratory feast before we proceed towards the Earth Kingdom," exclaims an exuberant Iroh, as he looks eagerly towards a plate of steaming scallion pancakes and a bowl of fragrant noodles.

Tupilek motions for everyone to pass their plates towards her and smiles as she heaps them with food and passes them back. Everyone eats with contentment as they exchange stories, jokes, and idle chatter about how good the food tastes, the coming of spring, and their recent victory.

Soon they're all laughing and making increasingly lively toasts to tomorrow's journey.

Suddenly, Aang hiccups loudly. Thunderheads gather in his large gray eyes, which flash with lightning as his eyebrows knit together in a scowling frown.

The boy darts a ferocious glare towards Zuko as he abruptly declares, "I think I'm ready for firebending now."

Zuko smiles as he meets Aang's stormy eyes with steady amber ones, and replies, "Fine, we can resume training tomorrow morning."

"No," snaps Aang. "I mean right now."

Startled, Zuko shrugs and mutters, "Um … sure. But can we finish eating first?"

Then the boy angrily snarls, "I mean … what do you guys call it? Agni Kai."

Suddenly, everyone's heads jerk up from their plates as though controlled by a single switch and the room grows ominously silent.

A blaze of gold flickers in the fire prince's eyes, but he controls his temper, looks contemptuously at the Avatar and coolly states, "I will not fight you, Aang. You may be the Avatar, but you're also still a child."

Aang springs up lightly from the floor, gathers a ball of fire in his hand, and hurls it towards Zuko's face as he shouts, "You will HAVE to fight me, Prince Zuko!"

"Very well, then," Zuko mutters with a baffled look on his face, as his body slants away from the oncoming missile, "We'll go outside."

Aang indignantly stalks out of the tent with Zuko reluctantly following, as their hosts throw water on the fire. Then, Iroh, Tupilek, Sokka, Nilak and Katara rush out of the tent, their faces clouded with expressions of panic and utter bewilderment.

The antagonists circle around each other warily. Aang makes the first move as he arches low to the ground and blasts a torrential wall of flames towards his reluctant opponent. Zuko nimbly ducks away from the assault, but is nearly overwhelmed as Aang punches and kicks out one flame after another with incredible strength and speed.

Zuko dives and rolls forward in a somersault to dodge the multiple streams of fire, rises in front of Aang and grabs his arms by the wrists while attempting to knock his opponent off balance with his foot. But the boy's eyes fill with a supernatural, blue glowing light as he flings the astonished fire prince against the frozen wall of the fortress with such force that the older boy crumples as he slides towards the ground.

The wind begins howling and lightning flashes in the cloudless sky, as Aang gathers an immense ball of flames between his hands and stands poised to hurl it violently towards Zuko. Katara lunges forward and extinguishes the fire with a torrent of water. She increases the water's volume and velocity, blasts it towards Aang's stomach, and finally knocks him down. Then she blows softly and immobilizes the boy in a straitjacket of ice.

Ice-blue sparks dart from the girl's eyes as they bore into the boy's clear gray ones. She stomps angrily towards the Avatar and drops down beside him.

"What the heck has gotten INTO you, Aang?" Katara screams into Aang's stricken face.

The avatar glares furiously at the girl, and shouts back, "Why didn't you TELL ME!"

The girl's eyes widen and flare coldly with indignation as she snaps, "Tell you WHAT!"

"About you and Zuko," Aang sharply retorts. He then mutters resentfully, "I hate him for even looking at you!"

Sokka roars with laughter as he collapses onto his heels and begins rocking back and forth as tears of hilarity begin to run down his cheeks. He pants for breath, and manages to snort derisively, "My sister with a FIREBENDER? You've got to be KIDDING me!" before he bursts into fresh peals of laughter.

Finally, the Southern Water Tribe boy realizes that his sister has not joined him in his fit of mirth.

Sokka glances nervously towards Katara, and inquires, "Um … this is really hilarious … right?"

But the girl merely meets her brother's eyes apprehensively and then looks sadly towards Aang and melts the ice. She takes his hand and helps him up, as her eyes fill with tears.

Sokka claps the palm of his head to his forehead as he rolls his eyes skyward and cries out in an exasperated tone, "Why doesn't ANYBODY ever TELL me anything!"

Katara looks deep into the Avatar's eyes and then hangs down her head as she softly whispers, "I'm so sorry, Aang. I… I… didn't know."

Her tears fall on the snow between her feet and the boy's. She then turns around and walks sadly towards her tent. Zuko knows that the girl is weeping, but feels that he would make things worse by following her.

Iroh wearily rubs his eyes and announces, "I believe that we could all use a good night's rest."

But the retired general looks slyly towards Tupilek, grins wolfishly, and declares, "But first, you need to arrange for those masks. I am sure you have not forgotten our bet?"

The high water shaman smiles back and replies, "Yes. The girl has definitely mastered waterbending. Though there is still much for her to learn"

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END MATTER 

Sources for my stories and notes to those who reviewed my previous story…

**My Sources (AKA, Where I get this stuff from)**

"Adlartok" is the Inuit word for "Clear Sky."

Also, the thing about Zuko enjoying the fact that he can share a spring roll with Katara without saying a word … I totally stole that from Walker Percy's _The Last Gentleman_, in which a man falls in love with a woman from afar because he sees her in the park every day, and thinks that she is the sort of girl with whom he could "share a peanut butter sandwich without saying a word." For some reason, I found that to be incredibly sweet, quirky and touching.

**NOTE TO THOSE WHO ATTEMPTED TO READ _CHAPTER 17: THE SEA SERPENT_ **and couldn't find the story. Oops, sorry! I've posted the correct document and you should be able to read it now! Thanks for letting me know, **Lonewolf-Chica**.

**RESPONSES TO REVIEWERS FOR _CHAPTER 19: THE NORTHERN WATER TEMPLE_**

**Harpygirl91: **Sorry – I've discovered that Fanfiction site does not let us publish links. So I will give them to you phonetically. The site I mentioned is at _FourNations dot Tripod dot com_. I also highly recommend the Distant Horizon site at _www dot musogato dot com slash avatar slash_.

**ZukosGirl: **Will I end it at one point? Gee, I dunno … probably when the new season comes and does everything differently and knocks the wind out of my sails. Yeah, I guess it wasn't exactly a "love scene," I was just kind of teasing. But it was kind of loving and maybe a beginning. Thanks for reading it anyway, though!

**Lucibell: **Thanks for the kind words … I enjoy reading "You Don't Hate Me," too and will review soon.

**Luna Riven: **Thank you for your support!

**XseabiscuitX: **Dang, you don't know German? Maybe something like "Das is gut!" Of course, I don't know German either. I figure the Japanese meaning for "Kai" makes more sense for Agni Kai (fire meeting). But thank you for telling me that "Kai" also means "Ocean" in Hawaii. How lovely. I'm also jealous that you've been to Hawaii. Now I know where you got YOUR new character's name for your story. That's cool. And I PROMISE I'll bring Haru back … I totally adore that wavy-haired, amethyst-eyed, earthbending hottie!

**Lonewolf-Chica: **Thanks for your support on the eyebrow issue! Nonetheless, I'll still remember from the reviewer of my previous story that I need to be careful when referring to "eyebrows" in plural!

**Spleef: ** Oooh! I'm glad you like my stories. I like yours, too!

**Monito: **Aw … honey, I'm sorry you're so upset about Katara's hair. But she is a noble soul, and if she is willing to sacrifice her life for the Avatar, then she would certainly sacrifice her hair. I assure you that it will grow back and that it will look awfully cute while growing back, okay?

**RedHawkK'sani: **Egads, I figured that if Zhao could accept Aang getting a bit taller, that the Avatar's constant exposure to the elements could make a tan plausible. But then again … nobody actually HAS gotten darker so far in the episodes. I guess they still have an ozone layer back in the Avatar world, though I dunno how much longer that'll last with the Fire Nation belching coal smoke everywhere. Funny, I hadn't even THOUGHT of the skin-tone issue. I am hence obliged to request the favor of your suspending your disbelief for the sake of my story!

**Booter-Freak: **Sorry for croaking off Admiral Zhao … but after the Avatar's escape in the last episode, along with the avalanche from my Chapter 15 and the defeat of the Fire Navy in my previous chapter, Zhao no longer could have been a viable enemy, because after three failures in a row, Ozai would have sacked his sorry butt and probably killed him. So I figured, why not let Zuko have his nice little revenge. Believe me, more formidable enemies shall arise.


	2. Spring Equinox, Part I

**Book 2, Earth**

**CHAPTER 2, SPRING EQUINOX, PART I **

**_Chapter Summary:_** Sokka totally rips into Katara about her new romance. Meanwhile, Aang learns more about Zuko than he really wants to know.

**Author's Notes:** I have included information on sources of inspiration for this chapter, along with answers to those of you who were kind enough to review my last chapter at the bottom of this one. Thank you reviewers, you rock my world and make my day.

**BIG NEWS: **I found out that the folks at Nickelodeon revealed some exciting news about upcoming _A: TLA_ episodes at the Comic Conference held in San Diego a few weeks ago in July. They introduced new characters and plot developments, and announced that they will begin airing new episodes this fall. On the one hand, I'm totally thrilled. On the other hand … YIKES! It changes EVERYTHING & I've had to do a bit of editing. I've summarized all this stuff at the end of this chapter following my replies to reviewers.

**Standard Disclaimer: **I do not own anything from _Avatar: The Last Airbender_! Though … sigh … Writing real episodes for the actual show would be a dream come true.

……………………………………………………

Sokka and his friend Nilak kneel beside Aang's limp, supine body and gaze anxiously into the boy's pale, barely conscious face. A bright fire cheerfully blazes in the small, pottery fireplace and casts a warm glow upon the boys' faces, as their shadows softly flicker against the soft contoured walls of the circular tent.

The normally blunt, affable contours of Nilak's face look pinched with anxiety for Aang. But Sokka gruffly reassures his friend, "He'll be okay. He always gets like this after he has …" he briefly pauses to grope through his mind for a way to explain the terrifying fits that occur when Aang's emotions get out of control and his Avatar Spirit overtakes him, "one of his … um … _special Avatar moments_."

Finally, Aang's eyes flutter open, and he sucks down several gulps of water from the spout of the pouch that Nilak holds to his lips. When he sits up, Sokka hands the Avatar a bowl of fried rice with vegetable dumplings, along with a pair of chopsticks, and watches the boy avidly gobble it down.

After a few moments of silence, Sokka grunts with feigned nonchalance, "You okay, Aang?"

The younger boy glares at him with huge gray eyes shimmering with tears of misery, and snaps, "No, I'm NOT okay! How … could KATARA …" he abruptly pauses to snort and squeeze back the tears stinging against his eyelids, "… fall for … PRINCE SCARFACE!"

Sokka shrugs and replies, "I don't get it either, Aang." He winces, and adds, "I can't even imagine my sister with a firebender, let alone the heir to the Fire Lord's throne!"

Nilak bursts out optimistically, "Maybe Katara sees something in Zuko that we don't!" But he abruptly casts down his eyes as Sokka's and Aang's faces both pivot towards his and glare venomously.

Sokka breaks the awkward silence and tries to cheer up his friend by exclaiming, "Come on, Aang! It's no big deal. I mean, it's not like they're getting MARRIED!"

He then mischievously adds, "And, besides, you're supposed to be a humble monk!"

Aang blushes a little bit.

Then Nilak sniggers and declares with a ribald wink, "Is monasticism even an option for the _LAST_ airbender? The world's short one element, Avatar! You'd better get BUSY!"

Sokka smothers his urge to laugh with Nilak but then he notices the younger boy's cheeks turning from pink to bright crimson, and suddenly feels protective.

"Come ON Nilak!" he gasps disapprovingly, "He's only 12 years old!"

Nilak responds, "Well, if the kid's old enough to kick Zuko's butt, then he's old enough to …"

But Sokka abruptly howls, "NILAK!" and cuts off the remainder of his friend's sentence.

……………………………………………………

Katara wearily climbs into bed and reaches over towards the whale oil lantern on the adjacent table to turn off the flame. But her hand hesitates as she suddenly muses to herself, "I wonder if my hair has started growing back?"

She scowls impatiently and sharply scolds herself, "No way. It'll take months to look even halfway decent. Stop dwelling on your stupid hair and get a life!"

But the water girl soon finds herself standing hopefully before the small mirror in her nightgown and removing her hat. To her amazement, a profusion of thick, chin-length hair springs forth like a wild animal released from the confines of a too-small cage.

"But … but," Katara exclaims in astonishment, "This is not at ALL like my hair!"

Dense, silky and black as obsidian, a chaotic mane of loose curls fly outwards as though charged with static electricity. The girl shakes her head in disbelief, as her new ringlets flash like blue lightning as they catch the glow from her lantern.

"My gosh, I look like a total MESS!" she mutters furiously.

She attacks the unruly locks with a hairbrush and attempts to pull them back into a more presentable ponytail. But her strange new tresses refuse to obey.

……………………………………………………

Then she hears the front flap of her tent rattling softly back and forth. Katara throws on her parka over her nightgown, steps into her fur-lined boots, snatches her hat, and walks out into the cold night air.

Prince Zuko stands there gaping with astonishment. "I've never seen anyone's hair grow so _fast_," he comments.

Katara scowls with annoyance and jams her hat impatiently onto her head. Then she sharply replies, "It's NOT really my hair. I don't know WHERE it came from."

Zuko shoots her a puzzled glance, but the girl does not seem inclined to discuss the subject any further. He settles for taking her hand in his. They stroll towards the outer wall of the fortress and gaze towards the sea. The moon is almost full and looms overhead casting its silvery reflection upon the dark blue waters.

Katara looks at Zuko full-gaze into his blazing golden eyes with her soft blue ones, and whispers, "This probably isn't a good idea, you know … I mean, look at all the trouble we've caused."

"Very well, then. _If_ that's what you really want …" murmurs Zuko. But his words trail off.

Suddenly, his eyes blaze like the smoldering embers of a campfire stirring in a gust of wind. He clutches the small of Katara's back with both hands, and pulls her against the length of his body. He continues gripping the girl's waist with one hand and raises the other one to tip her chin upwards towards his face.

_I should turn away,_ the water girl thinks to herself as the fire prince places his lips upon hers.

But she can'tdo it. Her bones and muscles have gone all rubbery, and the blood in her veins surges slowly and voluptuously like shimmering, molten liquid.

Her body melts into his, and her arms encircle his waist.

Zuko's fingers softly graze along Katara's cheek, jaw line, earlobe, and the nape of her neck. Their kiss intensifies as his hand tightens around the back of her head and slides beneath her hat. He draws her closer, while twining his fingers in her luxuriant hair.

Then, he abruptly releases the girl. He smirks triumphantly and finishes his sentence:

"… but it obviously _isn't_."

Katara glares at Zuko to conceal her confusion. Then she struggles to feign a frosty tone of cool nonchalance, and replies, "Good _night_, Zuko!"

She catches the gleam in the fire prince's eyes, and immediately knows her artifice has failed. The water girl frowns as she whirls around and strides briskly back towards her tent.

……………………………………………………

"Great, now she thinks I'm a total jerk," Zuko mutters angrily to himself, "I just didn't want …" An involuntary sigh of misery overtakes his words, as he regretfully watches the girl's slender, retreating form.

The fire prince returns to his tent, sits cross-legged on his rug, and leans over to light the three candles before him. He closes his eyes and attempts to calm himself by meditating. But the flames refuse to burn steadily and he sees them flare and sputter through the dark red curtain of his eyelids.

Zuko breathes deeply and tries to clear his mind by visualizing him self gently and rhythmically erasing a black slate covered with chalk marks. Then he grimaces with frustration as the newly cleared spaces fill with hazy images of … her.

……………………………………………………

Meanwhile, Katara attempts to fall asleep but tosses and turns restlessly.

"Go to sleep," the girl scolds herself impatiently, "You have a long trip ahead of you and this is the last chance you'll have to rest in a nice, comfortable bed for a long time!"

Her irritation increases as she realizes that she cannot stop thinking about Prince Zuko.

"Nice going, Katara," she snarls in self-disgust, "Aang is the only one who can keep the Fire Lord from taking over the world, we've come all this way to help him, and now he probably HATES me. And Sokka will totally bite my head off tomorrow."

She shakes her head defiantly and declares, "But what business is it of _theirs_? It's _my_ life! And they don't _know _him like I know him."

Then she pauses, and whispers, "But … I _don't _really know Zuko. It's all crazy and wrong, but I can't stay away from him."

……………………………………………………

Zuko and Sokka bend over a map. Sokka's flashing blue eyes reflect the cool morning light. Zuko traces his finger from the North Pole towards the sea and then points to the mouth of a river in the northern part of the continent of the Earth Kingdom.

"We need to go _this _way. The Fire Nation has taken over many of the Earth Kingdom's ports but they have not penetrated very far inland."

Sokka coldly nods in agreement, but utters nothing in reply.

Iroh appears and presents Sokka with a sleek rectangular wooden box fastened with a silver clasp, and announces, "This is my extra Pai Gow set. I suspect that the four of you will be in need of diversion during the long journey ahead."

"You can say THAT again," The Southern Water Tribe boy declares emphatically.

Iroh chuckles and obliges him by repeating, "This is my extra Pai Gow set. I suspect that the four of you will be in need of diversion during the long journey ahead."

Sokka grins at the older man, bows his head, and replies, "Thank you, Iroh."

……………………………………………………

Aang perches upon Appa's head to guide the giant flying bison. His face looks pale and his eyes are slightly swollen. Katara cringes as far back on Appa's saddle as she can, facing the other direction. Sokka and Nilak sit cross-legged in the middle and concentrate intently on their game of Pai Gow. The water girl fidgets nervously as she waits for the inevitable tongue-lashing from her brother.

The Avatar's head slowly nods forward as his gentle snoring breaks the unbearable silence.

And the dreaded moment finally arrives.

Sokka plops down next to his sister, and snaps, "You and PRINCE PSYCHO? What the heck is WRONG with you, Katara?"

The water girl shrugs her shoulders and averts her eyes from her brother's furious glare.

Nilak sits down next to Sokka and interjects, "Why don't you leave her alone? I mean, it's none of our business really."

Sokka glowers at Nilak and hisses, "It IS my business. Katara's my sister. I'm supposed to protect her. And her new BOYFRIEND happens to be the most terrifying person I've ever met in my life!"

Nilak shrugs and replies, "Maybe there's more to the guy … I mean, he IS on our side, not the Fire Lord's."

Sokka practically froths at the mouth as he springs to his feet and launches into an angry tirade:

"Prince Psycho will BE the freaking Fire Lord someday! Katara, Aang and I are darned lucky that he changed sides, because the way things were going, he probably would have killed us all by now! I saw Prince Psycho demolish almost an entire squadron of Fire Troops single-handedly _without even bothering to use his firebending_! And you were there when he destroyed Admiral Zhao – one of the most powerful people in the Fire Nation – as though he were nothing! Nilak, the guy is _a killing machine_!"

Then he reaches down to grab his sister by the shoulders. He vehemently shakes her and cries, "Zuko could CRUSH you, Katara! Have you noticed how he's BUILT?"

Katara gulps, "Um … yes," as a blush rises to her cheeks.

Sokka's face turns purple and his eyes bulge from their sockets. His voice cracks as he screeches, "Katara, that's DISGUSTING!"

The girl smirks maliciously and replies, "Well, you _asked_, Sokka."

Her brother glares and grimly comments, "Great, now you're even starting to _smirk_ like him!"

Then Sokka's icy eyes melt into pools of blue, and he gruffly murmurs, "Katara, I'm just trying to look out for you and make sure he doesn't … um … dishonor you."

"Ha!" Katara laughs scornfully.

She affects a high-pitched, breathless little girl's voice and declares, "I'm so young and naïve and in need of your protection that I have absolutely no _idea _of what you mean."

Then her eyes narrow as a wicked grin curves across her lips. "Though, being 'dishonored' _does_ sound kind of exciting," she taunts.

Sokka gasps with outrage, and then snaps, "That's _not_ funny, Katara! I'm serious. It can't go anywhere. I mean … the future fire lord isn't going to marry a water peasant. I don't want you to get hurt."

Katara bridles with anger. Sparks fly from her cold blue eyes as she indignantly exclaims, "So now you want to marry me off? Fine, Oh Great, Wise and Wonderful Patriarch! If we get through all of this alive, _then_ maybe I'll let you find a husband for me!"

Sokka sharply retorts, "You're totally _sick_, Katara!"

The girl smiles with sweet malevolence and murmurs, "Zuko said the same thing once. So now you boys have something in common."

Sokka rolls his eyes and snorts derisively, "Defeating the Fire Lord will be easy compared to finding a guy who would be willing to marry the likes of _you_!"

"Gee, thanks, brother. I love you too," Katara responds. Then, she softly adds, "I'm not a child any more, Sokka. I'll be okay."

He grimly replies, "First, Jet the Jerk, and now Prince Psycho … you really seem to have a thing for total homicidal maniacs, sis. Why can't you go for someone decent and halfway _normal_ … like Nilak?"

Nilak's face flushes beet red.

"Don't even THINK about it," Sokka snarls, as he whips his head around and glowers at his friend.

A sly gleam enters the Southern Water Tribe boy's eyes, as he declares in a smoothly persuasive tone, "And … why not Aang? He's a nice guy, plus he's the Avatar. That's not so shabby."

Katara's eyes fill with tears and she sobs, "I feel horrible about hurting Aang. I do love him, but … it's more like the way I would have loved a younger brother. I don't know what to do."

Sokka heaves forth an exasperated sigh, looks his sister straight in the eyes, and inquires, "What _do_ you see in Prince Psycho _anyway_?"

"I don't know exactly," Katara replies truthfully. "He … he's interesting … I guess it really started when I realized that he was the one who had made this hat for me."

Sokka laughs scornfully and scoffs, "Oh, so you've seen his _sensitive _side? Like when Prince Psycho's not running around annihilating entire regiments with his bare hands, he's making pretty _hats_?

"Excellent," he snorts contemptuously, "If Zuko doesn't get his throne back, the two of you can settle down, have a few kids, and start a trendy little hat shop. And if it doesn't turn a profit, what the hey? I'm sure you could both find plenty of work as hired assassins!"

Then the Southern Water Tribe boy grudgingly adds, "Though I have to admit … the hat Zuko made for you is _much _better than that lame thing you threw together for Jet!"

Katara responds, "You're missing the point, Sokka! I felt hideous and ugly without my hair and couldn't even face anyone. Zuko was the _only _one who understood. He's been fighting with us for weeks now, and has tried to help Aang with his firebending. It's not _fair_ for you to judge him."

Sokka looks his sister with skepticism, as she continues, "And … can you imagine having Fire Lord Ozai as your father? I don't know what exactly made Zuko decide to change sides. But, he _did_, and that must have taken a lot of guts."

The girl's voice fades as she softly declares more for her own benefit than her brother's, "Zuko is very … complicated, I think. It's like peeling away the layers of an onion only to find more layers underneath. Maybe _that's_ what attracts me to him."

Sokka wistfully murmurs, "This is crazy. I wish we could talk to Father, or Gran-Gran … or …" a tear rolls down his cheek, "… our mother."

Katara leans towards Sokka and gives him a big hug. Nilak smiles and sighs with relief.

……………………………………………………

Night falls, and the full moon rises like a giant, luminous, silver coin in the dark, frigid arctic sky. Katara, Sokka and Nilak hear the soft beating of wings and feel a chill pass over them, but they look upwards and see nothing.

Aang abruptly awakens, straightens his spine, and lifts his eyes to greet the form of Avatar Roku's dragon flying swiftly towards him. A tendril from the dragon's brow slithers forth, touches the boy's forehead, and draws him into another world. The avatar's soul steps out from his body and climbs on top of the dragon.

Aang's three companions shiver as they see the boy's form become stiff and lifeless.

Sokka declares, "I think we're on autopilot now … I'll take Appa down to the ship just to be safe.

He springs up, lands behind Aang and takes Appa's reins from the younger boy's frigid hands.

Katara's eyes light up and then fill with dread. She begins fidgeting nervously again.

……………………………………………………

Aang finds himself alone in a meditation room dimly illuminated by the three candles on the floor before him. The flames burn clear and steadily at first, then begin to flicker and flare up. He focuses his attention on the candles and attempts to calm the sputtering flames. To his surprise, nothing happens.

"That's strange," the young avatar muses as a bewildered expression suffuses his boyish features, "I'm usually pretty good at this sort of thing."

Then, Aang's wide gray eyes flutter open with sudden comprehension. He exclaims, "_I'm_ not the one controlling the candles!"

Hazy, sepia-toned scenes and images flicker before his eyes like memories. But they're someone _else's_ memories.

A small boy and girl gaily chase each other across gently undulating hills as the tall grass ripples softly in the breeze. A tall, muscular man with handsome, leonine features, a clean-shaven face and a cascade of wild, tawny hair drawn back into a topknot walks behind the frolicking children.

A younger man, slightly shorter in stature but equally muscular, with wavy chestnut brown hair pulled back in a similar style and heavy sideburns follows with swift, competent strides and finally catches up with his friend.

The tall, golden man smiles down at his companion and declares, "It is good that our noble families shall finally be united. You shall marry my daughter when she comes of age. We can make the announcements tomorrow and hold the betrothal ceremony next week."

The other man's eyes glitter ambitiously as he smiles widely and declares, "This is a great honor for me and for my house."

They are agreeably interrupted as a beautiful woman in her 20's approaches with a brisk, graceful gait. She gaily trills, "Planning the future of our dynasty, I see!"

Tall and slender, she does not need to stand on tiptoe as she kisses her husband's glowing, suntanned cheek. Then, she turns towards the younger man as he bows, takes her hand, brushes it with his lips and murmurs, "My lady."

Despite the woman's long, wavy auburn hair and flawless alabaster skin, her sharp, chiseled features remind Aang of Prince Zuko. She nods towards both men and then calls out to the children, "It's time for lunch!"

The children rush towards the grownups, as the boy cries out in delight, "Mama! These are for you," and holds out a bunch of pretty, purple violets that have already begun to fade.

The woman gracefully bends over and stretches out her arms and affectionately waits for her son to rush into them. Despite his restless squirming, she manages to plant a kiss upon the boy's flushed, alabaster cheek. Meanwhile, the girl's eyes meet her father's as she grimaces and rolls her eyes.

……………………………………………………

Aang finds himself in a chamber and sees the beautiful woman who had eagerly and affectionately embraced her son just what had seemed like a few moments ago. Her eyes are hollow and burn feverishly, and her skin looks pale and translucent.

_Consumption_, Aang thinks to himself sadly.

Then, he hears a small voice sobbing softly, and sees that the woman is not alone.

Her son – slightly older than before and bearing a more striking resemblance to his mother – cuddles up against her with his head on her breast. She feebly strokes the boy's light brown hair, which is loosely gathered into a topknot like his father's.

And then, she stops and her eyes close because she can no longer offer any comfort.

The boy's chin quivers as he bursts into hiccupping, disconsolate sobs. Then, he impatiently wipes away his tears and clenches his jaw with determination as he attempts to master his turbulent emotions. He gently closes his mother's eyes, and softly places the required coins upon her eyelids.

Then, he descends towards his father's chambers to make the long-awaited announcement.

Aang gasps in shock at how drastically the man's appearance has changed. His features have hardened into a coarse and brutal caricature of their former handsomeness. His skin stretches across his face like parchment and his eyes glow dark, blazing red like those of a demon.

"He doesn't even look _human_," he whispers as a shiver of terror courses down his spine.

……………………………………………………

The boy and girl are now about Aang's age, but still recognizable. The girl is almost a head taller than her brother and has bewitching, flashing, almond-shaped dark eyes, long brunette hair tied back and crowned with a Fire Nation insignia like her brother's, a cat-like face with a pert little nose, and a pointed chin.

"She would be beautiful if she didn't look so horribly cruel," Aang thinks to him self.

A diminutive, young servant girl cowers in the corner of the room, her stunned eyes and mouth wide open with fear. Her trembling hands clutch a tray as a puddle of tea gathers around her feet and flows around the shattered fragments of a once-lovely and valuable porcelain tea set. Blood runs down the servant girl's face from the four, viciously slanting gouges in her cheek.

The older girl's eyes narrow towards the servant girl's face triumphantly as the corner of her mouth tugs upwards into a leering smirk. Then she delicately sucks the blood and skin from beneath her sharp fingernails, spits towards the ground, and snaps, "Next time you won't be so clumsy!"

The boy whirls around upon his sister, grasps her by the shoulders, and shouts into her face, "How could you DO that, Zula? You make me SICK!"

Zula meets her brother's eyes with cool, calculated defiance, as she declares contemptuously, "Unhand me, you pathetic, soft-hearted Mama's boy. How I choose to discipline my servants is no business of YOURS."

He snarls at Zula, "_This _one's my business because you forced me to witness your disgusting savagery. When _I _take the throne, you _won't _get away with this."

The corner of Zula's lovely, cupid's bow mouth curves upwards with derision, as she purrs, "Not to worry, Zuko. You _won't_ be taking the throne."

……………………………………………………

The events that soon follow flash before Aang's eyes in rapid sequence:

Young Zuko in the War Room protesting the decision to sacrifice an entire division of new recruits to divert attention from a planned attack. The senior general challenging the boy to an Agni Kai. Tears rolling from the fire prince's wide, amber eyes as he kneels before his father in the arena and refuses to fight him.

Fire Lord Ozai intoning, "You will learn respect. And suffering will be your teacher," and viciously blasting the fatal flame towards his son's pale, miserable face.

_The young fire prince howling as though his still-beating heart is being savagely torn from his body._

Aang shudders in horror as his icy hatred towards Zuko melts away.

His eyes scan the grim, unsympathetic faces in the audience, and abruptly focus on the only familiar people in the crowd.

Iroh stands between Zhao – now identifiable as the young man from the grassy fields – and Zula, winces, and averts his eyes from the horrific spectacle. The happy, soon-to-be wedded couple share a triumphant glance over the retired general's bowed head.

The Fire Lord straddles over the huddled form of his recalcitrant son, and proclaims, "The Fire Prince is henceforth banished until he captures the avatar and brings him back to me."

……………………………………………………

Astonished whispers ripple through the audience. Aang cries out, "But I was still stuck in the iceberg! Everyone thought I was …"

He stops in mid-sentence, as a thought stirs in the back of his mind, surfaces towards his eyes, and then pries them wide open.

Aang whispers, "Now I get it … The Fire Lord thought I was dead … he didn't want Zuko to return. No _wonder_ he wanted to capture me so badly."

He glares towards Ozai, who of course cannot see him. The boy's gray eyes narrow as he hisses angrily through his clenched teeth, "Well, Fire Lord, your son shall indeed bring you the Avatar … but not the way _YOU_ had in mind!"

……………………………………………………

The flames of the candles in the meditation room blaze and shoot towards the ceiling. Aang feels his body being flung helplessly forward like a rag doll caught up in a hurricane.

He lands violently upon burning sands of a scorching, barren desert. He slowly and painfully arises, brushes off the thick, clinging layer of dust, and takes in his surroundings.

A hot, relentless sun sets the sky aflame in blazing gold and red. Tall, bone-colored cliffs and rock formations hover threateningly overhead. Sharp, heavy boulders slant precipitously from them, as though the slightest breeze could topple them down in an crashing avalanche. Fortunately, not the slightest hint of a breeze exists in this terrifying, apocalyptic world.

A range of jagged mountains towers over the horizon. The glassy, obsidian peaks glisten cruelly as they pierce the inflamed wounds of the sky. Black smoke rises from a few craters that ooze molten, flame-colored lava.

Aang wipes the sweat from his brow and scans the wretched landscape for some form – any form – of relief. But he finds nothing. Not even a single cactus or buzzard circling overhead.

A deafening subterranean rumble fills the air. The sand beneath the avatar's feet begins to shake viciously like a spooked pack animal that is suddenly determined to throw off its rider and flee. An immense, dark silhouette with massive shoulders, a broad chest, and enormous muscular arms rises from the sands of the desert.

The demon's glowing red eyes swivel back and forth as though hunting for something. Failing to see its quarry, its nostrils flare as it thoughtfully sniffs the dry, hot air.

"Fire Lord Ozai!" Aang screams inwardly, as he ducks behind a convenient boulder.

Technically, he doesn't exist in this world, and hence his powers probably won't work here. Yet, he knows instinctively that somehow, this … this thing has sensed his presence, even though it cannot see him. The boy trembles behind the boulder as the thing narrows its blazing eyes and stares in his direction.

Then, a voice rings out defiantly and echoes against the forbidding mountains and rock formations, "I am _not_ yours to command, Father!"

The demon kneels down to meet his son's eyes, holds out its arms as if to embrace him.

His rumbling voice becomes gravelly and seductive, as he entreats with a hint of tenderness, "You are my son. The Fire Nation can still be yours. The _world_ can be yours. You make life so _hard _for yourself, Zuko. It doesn't need to be."

Zuko's eyes meet his father's and blaze with a combination of ambitious acquisitiveness and utter torment.

The Fire Lord continues in a purring, persuasive voice that sounds like a plump, silken-furred cat stretching its indolent body against luxuriously soft velvet sofa. "Come back to me, Prince Zuko, and I will restore you to your rightful place on the throne."

The fire prince's eyes widen and lock into his father's as though he has been hypnotized, as Ozai softly murmurs, "All you need to do is give up these strange ideas of yours and surrender to reality. The Fire Nation is destined to rule, my son. And you're destined to rule the Fire Nation."

Zuko violently shakes his head like a boy who has been slumbering and awakens to discover himself covered with clinging, silken spider webs.

His eyes fill with tears and he raggedly cries out, "Father, what has _happened _to you? You weren't _always _like this!"

"You can be like me," rumbles Ozai.

Zuko barely seems equipped to withstand the pressure, as he hysterically screams, "No, I _WON'T_!"

……………………………………………………

Aang cannot contain himself any longer, and springs forth from behind the boulder.

"Leave him _alone_," he shouts, as he swings his staff towards the fire lord. It swishes through the Fire Lord's body invisibly and the boy curses with frustration.

Suddenly, Iroh appears. Aang glances towards him with relief. Then, he remembers that in this world, Iroh cannot see him. But Iroh _does _see him.

The old man look towards him, meets his eyes, and declares, "Help Zuko fight. He needs all his friends."

Iroh and Aang leap forth to stand beside Zuko The Fire Lord's hulking, shadowy form diminishes slightly. Then, Tupilek, Nilak and Sokka appear and Ozai sinks further into the ground.

Finally, Katara steps forth through the void. Green plants sprout from her footprints, as she walks towards the sinking form of the Fire Lord. The plants shoot forth in a profusion of leaves, flowers and vines, which radiate outwards to create an oasis. An apple tree grows from the spot from whence Ozai had arisen, and provides cool shade.

The girl looks towards Zuko, and says, "Remember to water it."

……………………………………………………

AUTHOR'S END NOTES Sources and Ideas for This Chapter 

I stole Aang's derogatory reference to "Prince Scarface" from Red Hawk K'sani's Z+K fan fic, _Floating Away _in which Katara calls Zuko that during an argument. It totally amused me.

And I totally ripped off the part with evil Zula scratching the servant girl's face and voluptuously spitting out the blood and flesh from _Caesar's Women_, which is part of a totally vivid, well-researched, dramatic, and _amazing_ series by Colleen McCollough – who wrote a gripping series about the emergence of Rome as an empire, but who is best known for writing _The Thorn _Birds, which was considered to be a racy novel back in its day, and is still rather racy even today.

The Katara thing at the end was inspired by the forest spirits that dwell in Miyazaki's films – especially _Princess Mononoke._

I'm sure that many of you have noticed that this chapter was majorly inspired by the _Teen Titans_ episode #6, _Nevermore_, which in turn is influenced by Edgar Allen Poe's eerie poem, _The Raven_. In this episode, Beast Boy and Cyborg look into Raven's meditation mirror and are transported to the dark regions of her mind and discover that the evil Trigon is Raven's father who has created her to serve as his portal when he takes over the world.

Of course, Trigon isn't the most original character to stride across our cultural landscape.

Trigon bears a striking resemblance to the Balrog whom Gandalf defeats in _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy – both the books and the movie – as well as the demon shown in the _Night on Bald Mountain_ sequence of Disney's 1960 version of _Fantasia,_ set to music by the composer, Mussogorsky. The demon of Bald Mountain, in turn, was modeled after Bela Lugosi from the original black and white _Count Dracula_ movies, which are based on Bram Stoker's novel, _Count Dracula_, whose character is based on legends about Vlad the Impaler, a brutal ruler of medieval Romania and the age-old concept of vampires.

And, as many of you have probably observed, Fire Lord Ozai looks an awful lot like all of the above with his horns and immense, muscular, chest-and-arm-heavy dark silhouette starkly outlined against a blazing background of fire, etc.

_Teen Titans_ doesn't totally rock my world like _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ (which I am utterly obsessed with, as I keep cranking out fake episodes while fearing that I will soon hear the inevitable knock on my door and find police officers with handcuffs flanked by battalions of lawyers in suits from Nickelodeon prepared to escort me to the Federal Penitentiary), but I still absolutely adore Robin, Raven, Star, Beast Boy & Cyborg! I have the same haircut as Raven, though my hair is dark brown, not purple & I got my hair cut this way long before the first episode of _Teen Titans_. Sure, I bet EVERYONE with an angular bob says that!

**Notes to Those Who Reviewed My Last Chapter:**

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And I find your comments – both positive and negative – to be immensely helpful. Having some of my stories listed on the ZukoXKatara C2 also totally made my day. Thanks again.

**Crzysheelf:** Yikes! You're right … There's a winter and summer solstice, and a spring and autumn equinox! I corrected the reference to the "spring solstice" in my last chapter, and changed the title for the current and following chapter (which I still need to finish writing). Thank you SO much! As you can tell from this chapter's title, you've saved me from looking like a TOTAL idiot! And I'm glad you liked the chapter anyway.

**Taybay500: **Yes, I agree with you: Aang is normally sweet and light-hearted and definitely not the jealous type. In fact, he hero-worshipped Jet so much he didn't even seem to notice Katara's little crush (though I did notice that Jet never received the hat Katara made for him, because Aang appropriated it … and maybe he still _has_ it). But I took some liberties because we all know the Avatar has a crush on Katara, and as we've seen in the "real" episodes, the rare times that he gets ticked off are real doozies. Also, Aang's _bound_ to hit puberty one of these days and start going off-kilter. Thank you for reading my stories.

DudettRin101: Glad you enjoyed the last chapter … sorry it's taken so danged long to update. The _Avatar_ news recently presented at the San Diego Comic Conference (which I have summarized in a section below) has totally wrecked my stories and I've had to do a hecka lot of editing! 

**Booter-Freak: **I have now introduced Zula, and had to rewrite a lot of this danged chapter and the next one thanks to the evil bi-otch. I love your little bit about the hat! Ha ha! Sorry again about Admiral Zhao, but I promise to introduce a new, powerful and way sexy antagonist soon. And yes, I'm a big Bumi fan.

**Monito: **See? I told you Katara's hair would grow back, though it's growing back differently than expected. You'll see why in my next chapter.

**XseabiscuitX: **Thanks for the German phrase – maybe you can start doing multilingual reviews! BTW, I _finally _watched Miyazaki's _Princess Mononoke_. Don't ask why it took me so long, since I'm a Miyazaki freak & have seen all his other stuff. But you should check it out if you haven't already. It's stunningly beautiful and there's a cool male character who rides an elk kind of like Kai. I'm sorry you didn't like Hawaii much.

**Red Hawk K'sani:** Thanks for the compliments. Booter-Freak's one of my fave raves too, and I'll definitely check out PallaPlease's stories. Though I don't really put in much effort … I have the misfortune of being a very lazy person with an extremely busy life. I just read a LOT and the Internet makes it so easy to look up things I've forgotten. I daydream so much that I have to do a brain-dump on my computer every night so the stories in my head don't keep me awake. Later, I change or delete all the stupid/irrelevant stuff, and … voila! A story! And thanks for deciding that Zhao's colorblind! ;)

**Boylessgirl52941: **Yes, yes, I'm trying to crank out the updates, but the comic-con threw me off! Thank you for your patience.

**Fatcat11388, 1kenshinlover, and Harpygirl91: **Oooh, your praise fans my literary flames. Thank you!

**ZukosGirl: **Yeah, I didn't want them to kiss _too_ soon

**Spleef: **I sure do appreciate your kind words! While writing this chapter, I knew you'd like it best because we finally see some K&Z action … although it falls way short of what I've seen on your deviant art pages ;) Man, you need to run – don't walk – over to your nearest counter-culture book/magazine store, pick up a copy of Susie Bright's 'zine, _On Our Backs_, and start sending her copies of your artwork. I don't know if she makes enough money to pay artists and writers for their contributions, but I definitely think she would publish your stuff. You're talented, and the photo of you made up kind of like a cross between Prince Zuko, the cover illustration from the book _Memoirs of a Geisha_, and the bath house demon from Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" totally kills me. You totally have a flair for life.

**MorningStarMaster:** I'm glad you enjoyed the Iroh-Tupilek pairing. I totally adore Iroh and feel he deserves some love in his advanced years!

**BIG HUGE NEWS ABOUT AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER !**

Yippeee! I've searched the Web and have found some major _A:TLA _news for you guys! Also, these developments have delayed and subsequently influenced the direction of this chapter and future chapters.

I got it from the message boards at the **AvatarFans **Web site at **www . avatarfans . net** and an article on the **AsmZine Web site**. For the article AND pictures of the new characters and scenes, visit **www . asmzine .com / features / conventions / sdcc05 /** If you copy and paste the URLs into your browser's Location window and remove the spaces, the links should work (Alas, does not support links so I couldn't type the urls properly).

**NEW EPISODES COMING SOON! **Each Book (Water, Earth, and Fire) will have 20 Chapters. The rest of the "Book of Water" will start this FALL! YAY! I'm not sure if there will be a "Book of Air" since Aang already knows airbending...

The **evil fire nation chick** is, indeed, **Zula, Zuko's sister**. Also, the presenters at the conference hinted that Zuko is not totally evil, but that Zula definitely IS totally evil.

**Katara **develops a special new power.

Aang & the Gang visit the **Northern Air Temple** on the way to the  
Northern Water Temple. Although there don't seem to be any airbenders  
left except for Aang, there may be air nomads who still live there.

There is an **epic battle scene**, but I forget whether it's at the  
Northern Air Temple or the North Pole. The Fire Nation has **Air Ships**  
that look kind of like hot air balloons and **that's how they flew up to the Southern Air Temple** shown in episode 3. The **Air Nomads** have these awesome **airplane/glider things**.

**New characters are introduced**, including **Zula**, an **eccentric inventor**; an adorable  
young girl named **Meng** who may have a crush on Aang; some other girl who may be a **potential romance for Sokka**; a **hot babe bounty hunter** who looks like a dominatrix and rides blind mole/anteater creature who may wind up seducing Prince Zuko (Ooops, I mean the bounty hunter will seduce Zuko, not the blind mole/anteater thing!); and (drum roll please...) we finally meet **Katara and Sokka's father**!

**The North Pole is gorgeous with castles and canals**. Apparently they've been able to hold their own against the Fire Nation, unlike their fellow Water Tribe on the South Pole. That makes sense since(according to that map) the South Pole is closer to the Fire Nation.

A sneak-peak scene was shown for _"**Chapter 14: The Fortune Teller**" _(yes, a REAL new episode, not one of my fake ones) where **Aang makes a necklace for Katara** to replace the one from her mother that Zuko still presumably has. I never saw Aang & Katara getting together because Aang looked so much like a little kid. But in the new episode, **Aang looks taller and a bit more mature and hence more plausible as a love interest for Katara**.

**WAAAAAAAH!**

Some of these developments break my heart since, as you know, I'm a Zutara shipper and also because I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that Zuko hires the hot-babe-bounty-hunter-dominatrix chick to find Aang (though he seems to have no trouble finding Aang on his own) and hence will not be changing sides or falling for Katara any time soon. Dang! I would LOVE to see the sparks fly between Zuko and Katara!

But Zuko not changing sides and becoming friends with Aang bums me out even more than the lack of Zutara. Since I'm drawn to Zuko and also just love Iroh, I really dislike their fighting on the wrong side – especially since they don't seem to support the war and the Fire Lord doesn't seem to want Zuko to return. I also feel that changing sides would be a smart move on Zuko's part because Aang and the gang could restore him to his throne.

On the other hand, a LOT can happen over the course of the show, and I refuse to TOTALLY give up on my Zutara-ish hopes!

All this news forced me to rewrite this gosh-danged fake new episode/fan fic that  
I was about to post a week ago. I had created a new character named Leiko (Japanese for "Arrogant") who was supposed to be the Fire Nation Chick based on my erroneous theory that she was Zhao's daughter, was betrothed to Zuko who broke off the engagement and  
earned her undying hatred. Oh well, I'll just make it so she's betrothed to Admiral Zhao and wants the throne and THAT's why she hates her brother ... Sigh.

Anyways, I hope this clears things up for everyone!

-- justanotheravatarfan


	3. Spring Equinox, Part II

**Book 2, Earth**

**Chapter 3, Spring Equinox, Part II**

I've included some author's notes and replies to those who so kindly reviewed my previous chapter at the end of this chapter.

**Chapter Summary: **The spirits are out in full force tonight. Katara discovers that she has acquired mysterious new powers when Zuko accidentally becomes her first victim. Zula hires a bounty hunter to capture Aang and assassinate her brother.

……………………………..

Night falls like a heavy, velvet curtain crashing down on a stage after the final encore of a performance. The setting sun surrenders to the full moon, which rises swiftly and glows in the sky like an immense, silvery orb.

Former Avatar Roku's dragon flies towards Aang, and beckons him to climb aboard. The young avatar's spirit spirit eagerly leaps forth from his body to obey. "Sure beats hanging around here, moping over Katara," he says to himself.

The dragon carries the new Avatar's spirit away and leaves the boy's frozen, inert body behind. Sokka, Katara and Nilak do not see the dragon. But they shiver at the vague sensation of wings beating overhead, as Momo looks up and chirps apprehensively. Aang's body continues to sit on top of Appa's head, but he looks waxen, stiff and lifeless.

Sokka nervously utters, "Uh-oh … I think we're on autopilot, now." He grabs the reins from the younger boy's frozen hands to guide the giant bison, and announces to the others, "I'm taking us down to the ship, just to be on the safe side."

……………………………..

They circle down slowly as Sokka waits for Iroh, Tupilek, and Lieutenant Ji to notice them. The three small figures finally look up from the deck below and wave back. Ji orders Zuko's men to clear space for the landing. Appa floats gently down and settles his immense, furry bulk on the cold, steel deck of Zuko's ship. Sokka, Nilak and Katara silently descend from Appa's saddle, and Aang's pet flying lemur adroitly leaps onto Katara's right shoulder. She pats the small, lithe creature on the head and says in a low voice, "It'll be okay, Momo."

"It is good that you have come," declares Iroh, "We, too, felt the presence Avatar Roku's dragon."

"There appear to be many spirits out and about tonight," adds Tupilek softly, as she nods towards a pod of whales sallying forth from the horizon towards the ship. "I suspect that Katara may soon have some visitors of her own."

Iroh nods towards the lieutenant, and mildly requests, "Could you please send someone to the kitchen and ask them to bring us some tea and spring rolls with plum sauce, Lieutenant? We need to stay on deck until the Avatar awakens."

"… And order some for you and your men, and retire early so you can get some rest. We can keep watch for now."

"Aye-aye, Sir," Ji crisply responds, as he bows his head towards the retired Fire Nation general.

To Katara's simultaneous relief and crashing disappointment, the fire prince is nowhere to be seen. She glances anxiously towards Aang, and her heart melts with admiration and sadness. If only she could return the boy's love… or at least not feel the way she does towards Zuko. The color rises to her cheeks, as she thinks resentfully, "_What DO I feel for him ANYway? And why HIM?" _

She glares furiously down at the deck and clenches her jaw so fiercely that her teeth grind together, as though she could fend off her strange attraction by turning her face into an implacable fortress.

Iroh chuckles softly with amusement, as he observes the confused and shifting expressions brawling for dominance over the water girl's pert, pretty features. He declares in a neutral tone that seems directed towards nobody in particular, "Prince Zuko always meditates at this time of day, but I am sure that he will join us shortly." Undeceived, Katara lowers her head to conceal her irritation.

………………………..

A few minutes later, the door leading to the deck slams open as Zuko strides urgently towards his uncle. He looks pale and shaken, and does not notice the visitors.

"What is the _matter_, nephew?" Iroh inquires anxiously. "Has a reptilian parrot stepped over your future grave?"

Zuko shudders and he implores, "Please, no proverbs now, Uncle. Especially ones like _that_!"

"I apologize," the older man warmly responds. He wants to embrace the boy, but knows better. He settles for placing a comforting hand on his nephew's shoulder. To Iroh's surprise, the prince does not move or strike his hand away.

"He looks _scared_," Katara whispers. Sokka's keen blue eyes grow large and round like Momo's, as he whispers back, "Man, I don't want to meet whatever it is that could scare the likes of _him_!"

The fire prince confides to his mentor in a bewildered tone, "I was trying to meditate. But, it wasn't working. At first I thought it was because I couldn't stop thinking about …"

Iroh raises an insinuating eyebrow, but Zuko grimaces and snaps, "ENOUGH!"

"I didn't _say _anything, Prince Zuko," Iroh responds silkily, as he gruffly draws his nephew closer.

The boy continues with an agitated stammer, "Wh-when the candles flared up, it-it suddenly felt like s-_someone else _was trying to-to … steady them." The fire prince suddenly looks down with embarrassment and continues in barely audible mumble, "I … I … feel like there's somebody _inside of my brain_ prying into my memories … and … and … the things I most care about … and the things I most fear."

Iroh pats his nephew's shoulder soothingly and murmurs, "Strange things do happen on nights like this. Do you feel like this thing in your mind wishes you good or ill?"

Zuko shoots his uncle a puzzled look, reflect for a moment, and finally says hesitantly, "I … think it wants to help me. But it STILL has no business mucking around in there!"

Iroh casts a shrewd, suspicious glance towards Aang's inert silhouette, and then turns back towards his nephew.

He says in a calm, reassuring tone, "We have no choice but to hope for the best. But my intuition tells me that you shall emerge from this experience unharmed, and that we will soon get to the bottom of this."

Then he adds, "In the meantime … I'm afraid we have company, Prince Zuko."

………………………..

Zuko attempts to pull himself together, as his eyes follow Iroh's towards Tupilek, Nilak, Sokka, Appa, Aang, and Momo. They finally settle upon Katara. Despite the darkness, her wide blue eyes are clearly visible and glowing with concern … presumably for him. The good side of Zuko's face flushes crimson with embarrassment and he involuntarily frowns.

He immediately regrets it and scolds himself, "_Why did I DO that?_"

But it's too late. The girl's face blanches white, and she steps back into the shelter of Appa's dark, heavy shadow. The fire prince casts a smirking leer towards the Katara's general direction to disguise the sharp pang of misery occasioned by her retreat.

"_Oh, CRAP. Now I'm making things even WORSE," _Zuko mutters to himself furiously.

Indignant, the water girl lunges forward, tears the hat that the fire prince had given her from her head, and viciously flings it towards him. The fur trim ruffles softly and the silky, iridescent fabric catches the rays of the moon and shimmers as he watches it float towards the pointed toes of his black, leather boots. The girl's bluish-black curls cascade wildly forth and whip around the delicate curves of her neck, shoulders and heart-shaped face in a jaunty, taunting manner.

Zuko glares fiercely towards Katara. She meets his eyes and glowers back defiantly.

"_Sokka's right,_" she thinks angrily to herself, "_Zuko could never care for ANYone, let alone me. This HAS to stop._"

Suddenly, a scalding torrent of fury rushes through the girl's body, as she quivers with searing hot rage. Lightning flashes ominously from her eyes, and the fire prince's slim, muscular form distorts as though his skin and internal organs want to leap forward several feet, but his skeleton refuses to obey. Everyone wheezes with horrified sympathy, as he clutches his chest and abdominal cavity, curls up into a ball, and falls upon the cold, steel deck of his ship.

The tide of Katara's anger recedes as swiftly as it had risen. With a terrified shriek, Katara leaps forward and kneels beside Zuko's crumpled body. She peers into his face to see if he is still breathing. "_Yes, but barely,_" she silently observes. She runs her hands over him to check for broken bones, and finds nothing amiss. The girl grunts with effort and mutters, "_He's way heavier than he looks!" _and gently lifts his head into her lap.

"What happened? Are you okay?" the girl cries out in alarm. But there's no answer.

She tenderly cradles his cheeks between her warm, soft hands. His skin feels clammy. Finally, to the girl's relief, Zuko's eyelids flutter open. Without thinking, her chilly blue eyes meet his blurred caramel-colored ones and deepen to warm, glowing sapphire and her mouth curves into a smile. Annoyed, Katara mutters under her breath, "_There I go again._"

"Are you okay?" she repeats as she reaches for his hands, which lie inertly at his sides. She gathers them to his chest and continues holding them.

"_Now_ I am," Zuko says weakly, with a faint, gallant grin. "But … I … I … can't move."

The water girl looks up towards Iroh and demands, "Is there a doctor on this ship? Someone needs to look at him. And we need to take him downstairs so he can rest."

"Of course," replies Iroh. "I'll fetch Dr. Liu right away.

"Come with me. I'll need your help with the stretcher and the supplies," he orders the others. "… But you need to stay, Tupilek, in case Aang awakens."

Zuko lies there in a daze, staring up into the girl's luminous blue eyes and watching their colors subtly shift and change like smoothly rippling waves in a shimmering summer sea. "You're beautiful, Katara," he murmurs in a barely audible whisper. Her eyes widen with surprise as the color rises to her cheeks and an embarrassed smile slowly creeps across her face.

"I'm so … _happy_," Zuko thinks to himself with amazement as he closes his eyes and drifts hazily into a dreamless sleep.

………………………..

Katara hears the door creak open as the men return with Dr. Liu, and she raises her head. To her bewilderment, she sees Tupilek peering at her with an odd, inscrutable expression. Dr. Liu kneels down beside Zuko, and peers closely into the invalid's face through her bifocals. She then touches two fingers against the side of his neck to take his pulse while passing a cool, competent hand over his forehead to check for fever.

"Will he be alright, Dr. Liu?" Katara demands fretfully. The doctor smiles and replies, "You can call Lucy. And yes, I think he'll get well. He just needs some rest.

She briskly tucks a wavy strand of chestnut hair back into her top-knot, and adds, "… and some good, nourishing food." She wags an admonitory finger towards the Dragon of the West, who petulantly rolls his eyes and protests, "But … I can never get my nephew to sit still long enough to eat!"

"Well, the prince won't be able to move much for at least a week," the physician retorts. Then her eyes twinkle behind her bifocals as she wryly comments, "Perhaps the girl could be more persuasive … What's your name?"

Katara remembers her manners, holds out her hand, and gulps, "I'm Katara, Dr. Lucy."

Dr. Lucy shakes the girl's hand, and states, "You kept your cool and handled things well, Katara. If you ever need a job, I'd hire you as a medic in a Sozen City second. We have so many danged _accidents_ around here, with all these firebenders onboard."

The water girl beams merrily as she contemplates the pleasant possibility of paid work. _"First, I'd buy myself a nice new tunic,_" she thinks happily. She was never one to particularly care about clothing. But her current outfit is faded and worn, and – she suddenly realizes, as she blushes for the second time that day – has gotten a bit tight across the chest.

Sokka, Nilak and Ji cautiously move Zuko's slumbering form onto the stretcher. Katara attempts to stand up, but her legs are numb from kneeling in the same position for so long. She stumbles as Tupilek steps towards her and places a plump, fine-boned, but surprisingly powerful arm around the girl's waist to catch her in mid-fall.

"Thanks, Tupilek," says Katara with an appreciative grin. But the high water shaman's midnight blue eyes fill with tears. "Oh, my poor girl," she cries as she embraces her bewildered, squirming student.

Sokka and Nilak raise Zuko's stretcher with visible effort. "Man, he's way heavier than he looks," Sokka grumbles.

Then, the Southern Water Tribe boy turns towards his sister and her mentor with a skeptical expression, and snorts derisively, "Poor _girl_? As I recall, _Zuko's_ the one whose freaking INSIDES just tried to jump out from his body! Shouldn't _he _be the one you're fussing over?"

Tupilek solemnly replies as the tears continue rolling down her cheeks, "All living creatures, including humans, contain a lot of water. In theory, a skilled waterbender can _control_ that water. But I have never seen or heard about anyone actually doing it … Until now."

Sokka glares and sharply retorts, "What are you _saying_? Now, my sister's a _GUT-_bender, too?" He rolls his eyes and groans, "Aw, MAN! That's the LAST thing we need."

Katara whimpers, "You mean … _I _did that to him? Sedna help me!"

Nilak's face pales with shock as the girl's older brother frantically shouts, "Bleeding hog monkeys, Katara! Watch your _language_!"

The boys stagger and barely avoid dropping the stretcher as a large object bumps violently against the ship.

"Nice going, sis," snarls Sokka.

………………………..

Katara skips lightly towards the source of the disruption, and stands on tiptoe to peer over the rail. She sees an enormous blue whale with a crown of slick, leathery seaweed upon its head, followed by a motley pod of whales, walruses, sea lions, and seals.

She cries out, "Sedna? Is that you?"

"Of course I'm Sedna, girl!" the whale snaps with its immense jaws, and blasts forth an immense, cascading fountain of water contemptuously through its blowhole. "What were you expecting? The fire lord?"

The water girl eagerly demands, "What do want with me, Sedna."

"Well, for starters, a little respect wouldn't hurt," the whale huffily retorts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," apologizes Katara. Then, she solemnly intones, "What do you want with me, Sedna, Great Goddess of the Sea?"

"I need to talk with you," Sedna hisses through her gargantuan jaws. "Come to me."

"NO-O-O!" Sokka bellows, as Katara fluidly climbs over the rail and leaps overboard. But the dreaded, plunging splash never comes.

Sokka mutters, "C'mon Nilak. Let's get my sister's dashing young prince to his room before she returns for the final kill!"

………………………..

Sedna positions her blubbery whale body below to ensure a soft landing. Katara bounces gently, regains her balance and scrambles forwards. She affectionately embraces the protuberant bulge of the whale's forehead, and then dangles herself precipitously from the whale's sloping brow to plant a huge kiss upon the cavernous space between the creature's eyes.

The eyes glow warmly for a moment. Then, Sedna brusquely commands, "That's quite enough, girl. We need to talk. But I would prefer to do so in a more civilized fashion."

She shakes her immense, bulbous head, and Katara falls upon a soft, gelatinous cushion with dangling tentacles. "A jelly fish!" Katara exclaims, as Sedna shrinks into the form of a pretty mermaid with an alabaster torso covered with long, wavy, glistening pale green platinum hair and gracefully curving legs encased with glistening iridescent blue and green scales softly tapering into a sheer, feathery fish tail in lieu of feet.

Sedna looks into Katara's arctic blue eyes with her liquid green ones, as her mouth splits open in a wide grin to reveal gleaming white teeth. She trills with an ethereal, silvery laugh that shimmers through the air like a high tide cascading exuberantly over a pebbly beach.

A long driftwood table floats towards them, laden with an ivory teapot, matching cups and saucers, and dainty little sandwiches and cakes. Katara barely manages to squeeze in and find herself a place as the assorted sea creatures jostle each other and hungrily crowd around the table. She manages to snatch a tiny sea-cucumber sandwich (with the crusts removed, of course) for herself, only to have a sea lion engulf her hand in its soft, warm mouth and swiftly masticate her little prize and suck it down into its gullet.

"HEY," the girl protests, and then sighs with resignation and reaches for the teapot. But a large walrus hooks the tip of its flipper into the crook of the handle and snatches the teapot away. After pouring a cup for itself, the creature turns its grizzled face towards her and politely inquires, "Would you care for some _more tea_?"

She snaps back, "Well, I _can't_ have _more_ tea, because I haven't had _any _tea yet." The walrus huffily replies, "Very well, then! Suit yourself!"

When the walrus finally looks away and engages in a light-hearted conversation with another walrus across the table, Katara reaches for the teapot again. But she finds that she cannot lift it, because a seal has placed his head inside of it and fallen asleep. The whale sitting next to the loudly snoring seal laughs merrily and announces, "Oh, he _always_ does this!" and nonchalantly places the teapot lid on top of the seal's head.

Katara impatiently bursts out, "None of you make any sense at all! There's no TIME for this foolishness!" A sea lion removes a pocket watch from its silk, paisley vest with an adroit flipper, and triumphantly holds it aloft. It then barks happily, "No worries! We have all the time in the world, because my watch has stopped!" The girl's brow furrows with frustration as she clenches her fists and hot, angry clouds of steam billow forth from her ears.

Finally, Sedna taps a silver spoon against her teacup, and a calm hush descends upon the tea party. She smiles softly towards Katara, and sighs, "If you keep insisting that everything in the world should make sense, and losing your temper when they don't, you will never gain full control of your powers."

Then, the Goddess of the Sea abruptly leans towards the girl, seizes her trembling hands, and hisses, "Has nobody ever told you that a Daughter of the Sea's power resides in her HAIR?"

Katara's lower lip trembles as her eyes cloud with confusion. "N-no," she stammers weakly.

Sedna thoughtfully murmurs, "Ah, yes … there have been no Daughters of the Sea for over 100 years."

Then she gently explains, "When you and your friends freed me from Fire Lord Sozen's enchantment, I knew you were meant to be my Chosen One. My Chi began flowing into yours. Alas, when you shaved your head in order to impersonate the Avatar and trick Admiral Zhao into taking you and the others onto his ship, you unknowingly disrupted the flow. When your hair grew back, you gained too much power too soon."

Sedna's voice rises and takes on an edge of urgency as she continues, "With power comes responsibility, girl. You MUST learn to control your emotions. You and your companions cannot defeat the Fire Lord without each other. Until then, you must bind your hair and keep it covered."

"B-but HOW?" wails Katara in despair. "I do try!"

"Tupilek will guide you towards a calm center of self-control. I _do _believe in you, Katara. You have a courageous and pure heart. But you're still so young. It's a shame that you must grow up so fast," the mermaid responds.

"And has for the hair …" She glances at the sea lion in the paisley vest, who propels itself forward, digs a flipper into its pocket, and produces a perfect, rose-colored scallop shell. Sedna opens the upper lid and a silky, translucent strand of bluish-green seaweed floats up from inside.

"Turn around," she commands, and the water girl obeys. The mermaid gathers Katara's errant locks into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck and fastens it with the ribbon. "Only this can bind your hair. But you need to keep it tied loosely so you can easily untie it when you run into trouble … As I am sure you shall."

"Thank you, Great Goddess of the Sea," Katara cries.

The sea lion ostentatiously raises the pocket watch to its ear, and twitches its whiskers. The Goddess of the Sea kisses the water girl gently on the cheek, and announces, "The watch is ticking again. It's time to go."

"But," Katara objects, "There's … just one more thing I need to ask you, please."

"Very well then," Sedna snaps, "But be quick about it."

The girl lowers her eyes and murmurs in a low voice, "What if I … already might have feelings for someone?"

Sedna bursts into a peal of silvery laughter, and declares, "You need to CONTROL your emotions, not AVOID them! After all, you're only human!"

She puts two fingers in her mouth and puffs her cheeks out, as she waves her hand and gives off a high-pitched whistle. An immense albatross majestically glides down from the sky, as its alabaster wings reflect the silvery moonlight. It swoops towards the girl, gently encircles her waist with its giant claws, and carries her towards the deck of the ship.

The giant bird opens its long, pale beak and squawks in protest, "I don't normally do late night pick-ups. The tips are lousy." Katara can't think of anything to say in reply, but the albatross doesn't seem to notice, and launches into a full-blown tirade.

"This place has totally gone to the sea-dogs. Back in the old days, it was nice. Not fancy, or anything, but it was a real neighborhood. Friendly with lots of families and good people who kept an eye on things and looked out for each other. Now, with the Fire Lord running things, things have gone downhill. The Gulf Stream is always loaded with pirates who will murder you and take you for anything you've got. And you've got runaway kids and derelicts selling pots on every ice floe, and Sedna-knows-what-else! Man, I'd sure like to give Ozai a piece of my mind. If I were running things, I would …"

The drone of the bird's voice lulls Katara to sleep, until they land with a hard thump on the deck of Zuko's ship.

Katara reaches into her pocket and thrusts two copper pieces, a needle, a small spool of blue thread, and a white sand dollar picked up from the Island of Kyoshi as a souvenir towards her large and voluble form of transportation. The albatross's eyes glitter appreciatively, as its jaws open wide in a bird-like approximation of a smile.

"Well, that's awfully kind of you," the creature exclaims. "That's the thing with basic working-class folks. They don't have a lot, but they're generous with what they've got because they know how hard it is for regular people to get by …"

The water girl nods off, but jerks awake when her ride squawks, "Goodbye, and Sedna bless you! If you ever get stuck, here's my card. Never go with the big companies or the gypsy birds, they'll rip you off big-time."

She waves and smiles with relief as the albatross sails away into the sky.

……………………………………………..

Katara sees the hat lying on the deck where she had thrown it, and puts it back on her head. She feels sleepy and can't wait to climb onto Appa and snuggle into her warm sleeping bag. But she decides to first check up on Zuko. _"Especially, since it's all my fault," _she rationalizes to herself.

She opens the door and descends the echoing steel stairs. The lower chambers are shrouded in darkness and eerily silent. Even the guards in charge of the night watch snore softly, oblivious to the fact that most of the torches have sputtered out. _"How strange," _the girl murmurs, _"Zuko runs a tight ship – and Lieutenant Ji would never allow this."_

Suddenly, a wrenching howl shatters the air, as though a demon has savagely torn out the still-beating heart from a tormented soul's living body.

"Creeping canyon crawlers! He's delirious! Or possessed!" Katara gasps. "…And why won't anyone wake up?" Two thoughts swiftly occur to her: First, that it is still the night of the Spring Equinox, and that spirits may have placed a spell over the ship. And second, she doesn't know where Zuko's chamber is.

She heart pounds with terror as she races down the corridor towards the sound of Zuko's voice, stumbles over several pairs of feet, and finally sees a door marked with the faint outline of a Fire Nation insignia that had been torn off. She cautiously opens the door to reveal the fire prince's agitated and feverish form. Beads of sweat pour down his forehead as the convalescent tosses and turns while babbling incoherently.

Katara attempts to push a chair towards the side of the bed, but it refuses to budge. Then she remembers that bolting heavy furniture to the floor is a common safety precaution on ships. She finds the water closet, soaks a washcloth in cold water, folds it neatly, and places it on Zuko's forehead.

Then his voice rings out defiantly and echoes throughout the chamber, as he shouts, "I am NOT yours to command, Father!"

A chill surges down Katara's spine, as she returns to the water closet, washes up, and fills a cup with water. She climbs onto the bed and sits cross-legged next to Zuko. Then, she tips up his head, and holds the cup to his lips. He takes a couple of long, thirsty gulps and begins to settle down.

The water girl takes the fire prince's hand and whispers soothingly, as though he's a child in the throes of a nightmare, "Shhhhh … It's not real, Zuko. It'll be okay."

He calms down but continues murmuring unintelligibly. She vaguely catches something about friends, and an apple tree growing in a desert. "Yes, you do have friends now, and we're here for you. When we win, you can plant an apple tree. Remember to water it."

Katara yawns and realizes how weary she feels. Her eyelids grow heavy, and she tells herself, _"I'll just rest for a minute…"_

……………..……………………………..

Sokka rolls away from the golden rays of the rising sun so he can burrow into his sleeping bag and catch a few more Z's. But he joyfully sits bolt upright when he sees Aang lying on his back a few feet away playfully buffeting a saffron and ruby-winged butterfly with gentle gusts of air.

Sokka cheerfully calls out, "Good morning, Aang," and then gruffly adds, "You're alive!"

Aang smiles at him, but says nothing. Sokka's sharp, ice-blue eyes bore into the clear gray ones of the younger boy as he pleads, "Aw, c'mon, Aang. What happened? You're holding out on me!"

"I can't now," the Avatar replies. "It's not my story to tell."

Nilak breaks the silence, as he emerges from his cocoon, rubs his eyes, and joyfully shouts, "Aang!" as he lurches forward with his legs still tangled in his sleeping bag and gives the Avatar a hug.

Then, Nilak's face lights up with excited glee, as he spills forth the gossip.

"Man, you totally missed all the fun while you were out with that dragon thing. Prince Psycho goes running to his Uncle Iroh with his face white as a ghost babbling about someone being inside of his brain. Then Psycho realizes we're there, too. As usual, he and Katara just _look _at each other and get into a fight for no reason whatsoever … and all of the sudden, she totally rips his guts out!"

Aang looks towards Nilak with disbelief and exclaims, "No way."

Sokka retorts, "Yeah, way. Sure, Nilak enjoys spinning yarns. But I was there too. We saw the whole thing."

Nilak picks up from where he left off:

" … I'm serious. They're facing off, and all of the sudden, his insides start jumping out of his body. Like they had a life of their own. It was one of the scariest and most bizarre things I've ever seen in my life! He falls down unconscious and then she runs to him and gets all gooey-eyed."

The narrator pauses to stick his finger down his throat and make a gagging noise.

"Maybe she likes him more when he's unconscious. Can't blame her for _that_! We went down to fetch the doctor and a stretcher. When we came back up, he was awake and looking totally sappy and pathetic, too. I've always thought Prince Psycho had another side to him. Then again, maybe he just needed to throw up.

While Dr. Lucy was looking at him, Tupilek goes into a crying fit and starts going on about how Katara has some strange new power and may be the one who DID that to him! Then, the girl gets scared and her eyes get all misty. She calls for help from the Great Goddess of the Sea – and actually utters her _real name_.

Well, you know the sort of thing that happens when Katara does that. The Goddess turns into a whale and crashes into us so hard that we almost drop Prince Psycho. She demands that we give Katara to her, or else she'll destroy the ship. And then, Katara leaps overboard."

Without thinking, Nilak smiles with the satisfaction of a good story well told.

Sokka looks around, and wonders aloud, "But … where IS my sister?"

"I'm sure she got back okay and is around s_omewhere_," Nilak says reassuringly. "Sedna wouldn't harm her."

Sokka scowls and his jaw tightens. But Aang knows what the Southern Water Tribe boy is thinking, and declares, "I don't think Zuko would harm her either."

……………………………………………..

Katara is awakened by the bright sunlight streaming through the porthole. She discovers that she had fallen asleep in a sitting position, and that her head is slumped forward onto Zuko's chest.

The girl jumps up and exclaims, "What time is it?"

"It's almost noon," he replies faintly with a wry smile, "I guess we both had a rough night."

Katara sees two bowls of noodles sitting on the night table, reaches for one and devours the contents ravenously. She sets her bowl on the table, notices that the other bowl is full, and frowns at Zuko accusingly.

"You haven't eaten ANY of yours!"

"I'm not hungry," he responds peevishly.

She props the invalid up on his pillows, scoops up a spoonful of noodles and broth, and holds it to his mouth. "Here, just try one bite," she pleads. Zuko turns his head away. Katara climbs on the other side of the bed and tries again. Her patient rolls over in protest, and groans with pain.

"Stop that," Katara exclaims indignantly as she walks over to the other side of the bed and pushes the spoon towards his tightly closed lips. "Dr. Lucy says you need to EAT … and get some REST!"

Zuko turns his head away. Katara impatiently snaps, "If you don't STOP this nonsense, I'll tie you down to the bed and FORCE you to eat!"

"Sounds interesting," chuckles Iroh as he opens the door and walks in.

The two of them scowl and shout in unison, "GET OUT!"

The retired general bursts into loud laughter, closes the door and walks away. The fire prince's amber eyes flash with amusement, as the ghost of a smile flits across the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, okay, you win, Katara! I'll be good now," he promises.

When he finishes eating, Katara bursts out, "I need to tell you something, Prince Zuko. And you're probably not going to like it …" She tells him the story of her strange evening with Sedna and concludes, "… So now … I guess, I'm some sort of monster." The girl's blue eyes begin to fill with tears.

But the ever-practical Zuko merely lifts an admiring eyebrow and says, "Hey, we need all the help we can get. Especially when my sister comes after us."

"Your sister?" Katara blurts out with astonishment.

Zuko shrugs and explains, "Zula was married to Zhao. If you think _he's _evil, wait till you see _her_! As you can probably imagine, my family's pretty … dysfunctional."

Katara looks at him with wide eyes and asks, "So, does that have something to do with what happened to you last night?"

"I don't usually like to talk about that stuff," Zuko replies, "But … here goes."

……………………………………………..

A tall, slender brunette parries and thrusts her sword against her opponent's, and finally gets the better of him, even though he is an experienced warrior twice her size. The door opens and a page announces, "I'm sorry to interrupt your training, Princess Zula. But the person you've been waiting for has arrived."

The princess nods coldly, adjusts the Fire Nation emblem, which gathers her thick chestnut hair towards the top of her finely-molded head, and strides towards the antechamber to receive her visitor.

An equally beautiful girl stands before her, with raven black pulled high into a bun and fastened with a morbid decoration that looks like a small, human skull. Her abundant remaining hair is parted on the side and falls along her high cheekbones and cascades down her back. She wears a long black leather tunic with no sleeves to reveal a scarlet spiral tattoo on her shoulder, and sports matching black leather leggings, long gloves that go up to her tattoo, boots with pointy toes that curl up slightly, and a defiantly cynical expression of world-weary nonchalance.

Zula wrinkles her nose and snaps, "What is that _smell_?" Then she notices the large, unattractive animal her visitor has brought along. "What _is _that thing and _why _couldn't you leave it in the stable?"

"His name is Shirshu, and where I go, he goes," the girl blandly replies.

Zula's cheeks flame with rage as she moves towards her visitor with her sword raised. "You _need _to address me with more respect, Jun."

With a bored expression, Jun reaches out to grasp the blade with her gloved hand, and draws it downwards. Then she raises her sleepy eyelids and looks the princess full in the face with impenetrably dark eyes rimmed with heavy, black eyeliner.

"Do you want me to do the job or not," she demands.

"Find the Avatar and bring him to me alive," Zula orders.

"And your brother?" Jun inquires.

The princess's eyes glow deep red and she snaps, "Dead, of course. But I want the body."

"You agreed to pay me a retainer up front," Jun states.

"Of course," Zula responds and reluctantly draws forth a pouch full of gold pieces.

Jun's implacable expression suddenly softens as she gently murmurs, "Please accept my sympathy for your recent … loss."

Admiral Zhao's face flashes before Zula's eyes for a moment, and then she rolls her eyes and sneers contemptuously, "Oh, _please_. _You_ of all people."

……………………………………………..

AUTHOR'S END NOTES 

Hi reviewers … I've finally added my replies to your comments on my last chapter, below.

Miscellaneous Notes 

**Lieutenant Ji:** D'OH! Of course the Lieutenant's name is Ji … Iroh says it in Episode 9, _The Water Scroll_. I have no idea how it's spelled, so I'm using XseaBiscuitX's spelling from _Hearts of Fire_.

**Dr. Liu/Lucy: **Well, "Liu" is a common Asian surname and I was too lazy to trawl the Web for fictitious anime names. And I've always adored the "Lucy" as a nickname. So there ya go.

**A "Sozen City Second": **This is what **Spleef **has decided to name the capitol city of the Fire Nation in her opuplently well-written, and … um … rated T Zutara fic, _Hot Water._ It totally makes sense to me that the financial and cultural center of the Fire Nation (i.e. the equivalent of New York City, even though NYC neither has the Fire Lord NOR Dubya Bush, thank gawd) would be named after former Firelord Sozen, who had initially harnessed the power of the comet 100 years ago. So … heh, heh, heh … I STOLE it! And gosh darn it, if the folks who do the actual series come up with another name for it in the next season, I'll keep right on calling it "Sozen City," gosh darn it! Thanks, Spleef!

**Sedna's tea party: **Straight out of Lewis Carroll's _"Alice in Wonderland," _of course. I SO totally adore and worship Lewis Carroll, who is not only a writer but a master of logic (with a real talent for subverting its conventions) as well. He also wrote all these wonderful and hilarious word puzzles called "syllogisms" that my left-brained mom introduced me to. Believe it or not, they made me start actually ENJOYING algebra (which is extremely "OC" for a writer type like me). If you google "Lewis Carroll syllogisms," you'll find tons of them.

**REPLIES TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED MY LAST CHAPTER:**

Caged Bird  
2005-08-24  
Thanks, I sure had fun writing that whole bit between Katara and Sokka!

:)totallystellar  
2005-08-17  
Sorry you didn't like the Aang thang. Like you, I'm definitely a Zutara gal … but Aang already does seem to have a puppy love thing for Katara in the show, so I decided to have my little fun. Hope this chapter answers your question about tension in the group & that my teensy bit of tooth-rotting Z/K fluff (um, I think they call that "cotton candy") makes you happy. Monito  
2005-08-15  
Hair … must be a chick thang. The minute I wrote about them shaving Katara's head, I knew I had to figure out a way to grow her hair back! Glad you're happier now :)

Spleef  
2005-08-14

I don't blame you for ignoring the new stuff. You started _Hot Water_ way earlier than I started my stories, so it would be harder to add Zula & Jun (I mean, what would Jun be looking for?). And I like it the way it is!

crzysheelf  
2005-08-14

Don't let the the ol' "all the ideas have been taken" stop you from writing a Zutara fic! We're all writing fan fics here! And the folks who write these TV shows steal tons of stuff from mythology, Shakespeare, Homer, the Bible (which is chock-full o' racy stuff – lot o' "slew"-ing and "begat"-ing going on), etc. I just adore ancient writers, in part because they don't sue! As someone complained way back in biblical times, "There is no new thing under the sun" (_Ecclesiastes, 1:9_).

Just figure out some story with situation where Z & K could plausibly meet, don't get too fluffy too soon, add some battles, fight scenes, amusing & snappy dialog, and weird creatures and spirits, and … voila!

But PLEASE do avoid the Zuko-captures-Katara-and-falls-in-love-with-his-prisoner thing … THAT particular idea is _definitely_ taken and only a few writers are able to handle it well!

DudettRin101  
2005-08-14  
Whew, I'm glad you've still got hope for Zutara.

.XSeabiscuitX  
2005-08-14  
I wonder if the longer, more drawn-out seasons for _A:TLA_ (i.e. 20 seasons instead of 13) has to do with the way they've structured the story as chapters within a book for each element?

Hotspur  
2005-08-14  
Sigh. Zuko's life IS sad.

!Mallaidh  
2005-08-14  
Thanks for the compliments … and I'm glad I'm not the only one who still has hope for Zuko joining forces with Aang! And I'm sure looking forward to September 23.

taybay500  
2005-08-14  
Am I really the first to include Zula? Wow. Sigh, I wish I could write for the show too. I'm hoping the stuff the folks at Nick are coming up with is better than the stuff we're all writing, or else I'll be disappointed!

taybayWarriorAtHeart  
2005-08-14  
Thanks for the praise – here's your update!

!kayko15  
2005-08-14  
Thanks for the info … and you're right about my coming to conclusions too soon about who hires Jun. I used your suggestion about Zula possibly being the one who hires her in this chapter, as you probably noticed. Alas, the folks at ComicCon did show a KatAang clip in which he makes her a necklace to replace the one she lost. Sigh.

Red Hawk K'sani  
2005-08-14  
Thanks … I'm trying not to let the new stuff throw me off, though I had to move a lot of my action/adventure/fight & battle stuff to future chapters in order to deal with it. I promise to put more excitement in my next chapters!


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